Early Travels in Palestine Part 13

[252] Chulam, the Koulam of Marco Polo and Ibn-Batuta, was an important place on the coast of Malabar, but is much reduced in modern times.

[253] Negroes.

[254] _i. e._ From April to October.

[255] Nine o'clock in the morning.

[256] Mr. Asher observes, upon this pa.s.sage, "Our author states the ancient inhabitants of Chulam to be fire wors.h.i.+ppers. Edrisi, however, (i. 176,) says of the king, 'he adores the idol of Boudha,' and Ibn-Batuta reports him to be 'an infidel.' Although the latter appellation was applied by the Mohammedans to the fire wors.h.i.+ppers, we have no sufficient proof to show that Edrisi's information is wrong, or that the majority of the population adored the sun as a deity. There is no doubt, however, that Malabar became the asylum of this ancient sect after it had been vanquished by the Mohammedans, and had been forced by persecution, not only to seek refuge in the mountainous and less accessible parts of Persia (Kerman and Herat), but to toil on to distant regions. They found a resting place beyond the Indus, which they crossed in fear of their unrelenting pursuers; and here we still find their descendants, the Pa.r.s.ees, who form 'a numerous and highly respectable cla.s.s of the population.' Very able papers on the history, religion, and wors.h.i.+p of the Guebres, will be found in vols. i. and iii. of Ouseley's 'Travels,' and in Ritter's 'Erdkunde,' v. 615."

[257] Psalms, xlix. 14.

[258] The modern Ceylon. Benjamin appears to call the inhabitants Druzes because he had been told that, like the Druzes of Syria, they believed in the metempsychosis. We learn from the Arabian geographer, Edrisi, that there was a large population of Jews in Ceylon at this time.

[259] A blank occurs here in the two early editions.

[260] Our author is the first European who mentions China by this name.

[261] Literally, continental India.

[262] 2 Kings, xix. 12.

[263] Gen. x. 7; 1 Chron. i. 9.

[264] Chalua or Aloua, the Ghalua of Edrisi (i. 33), is mentioned by the Arabian writers as the starting point for the caravans which traversed the desert of Saharah, and carried on the trade with northern Africa.

Zavila, Zuila, Zuela of our maps, Zavila of Edrisi (i. 258-9), was remarkable for the splendour of its bazaars and buildings, as well as for its beautiful streets and thoroughfares. From Zuila the caravans proceeded almost due south to Ganah, in the interior of Africa.

[265] Exod. i. 11.

[266] The Pentateuch is divided into fifty-four Paras.h.i.+oth, of seven portions each; and the custom of the Babylonians, as described in the text, is practised at present almost universally.

[267] The former is celebrated on the last day of the feast of tabernacles, (Deut. xvi. 13-15,) the latter with the feast of weeks (ibid. 9).

[268] Benjamin of Tudela does not mention the name of the Fatimite khalif of Egypt who reigned at the time of his visit; but as that dynasty was overthrown in 1171, and as the authority of the last khalif of that family had previously been annihilated by the conquests of the armies of Noureddin, to which Benjamin makes no allusion, it is probable that his visit to Egypt may be placed as early as 1168 or 1169.

[269] August.

[270] A phrase taken from Gen. xliii. 1.

[271] November.

[272] March.

[273] April.

[274] "Carob-Siliqua in Latin; Caroube, or Carouge, French. This translation is traditional among Jews, and it has been employed, although Abdol-latif does not mention this fruit as one indigenous in Egypt."-ASHER.

[275] It may be observed that Benjamin's object appears to have been only to mention those towns in Egypt which contained Jews, and he follows no direct course.

[276] This story is one version of a popular tradition which is mentioned by the Arabian writers; and a story similar to it, though not applied to the Pharos of Alexandria, is found among the collections current in the west of Europe during the middle ages, but no doubt brought from the east. See the old English poem of the Seven Sages.

[277] Mr. Asher has first given a clear and intelligible translation of the names of the different countries who traded to Alexandria; and he observes that, in drawing it up, Benjamin probably follows some list of the fontecchi, or hostelries of the merchants of different nations, made for the use of captains arriving there.

[278] This appears to be an error of our traveller.

[279] William II. king of Sicily, who reigned from 1166 to 1189. On his accession he was only twelve years of age; and during his minority Stephen, archbishop of Palermo, governed Sicily as chancellor under the queen dowager. It is to him that Benjamin alludes under the t.i.tle of viceroy; in 1169 the viceroy was driven from Sicily by a revolt of the inhabitants of Palermo, and it was therefore probably early in that year that Benjamin was in the island.

[280] Coral (Arabic, bessed; Persian, merjan). The Sicilian coral is mentioned by several old writers. The produce of the fishery at Messina is stated by Spallanzani ("Travels in the Two Sicilies," vol. iv. p.

308, &c.) to amount to twelve quintals of 250 lbs. each. Edrisi mentions the fishery of this production to have been carried on by the Sicilians, and states that it was inferior to the species found on the African coast.

[281] Solom. Song, ii. 12.

[282] Psalms, x.x.xv. 27.

[283] Vaiverges, Polish wiewiorka, the white squirrel, a quadruped, the skins of which were considered to be of great value.

[284] Louis le Jeune, who reigned from 1137 to 1185.

THE BOOK OF SIR JOHN MAUNDEVILLE.

A.D. 1322-1356.

THE PROLOGUE.

Forasmuch as the land beyond the sea, that is to say, the Holy Land, which men call the land of promise or of behest, pa.s.sing all other lands, is the most worthy land, most excellent, and lady and sovereign of all other lands, and is blessed and hallowed with the precious body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ; in the which land it pleased him to take flesh and blood of the Virgin Mary, to environ that holy land with his blessed feet; and there he would of his blessedness shadow him in the said blessed and glorious Virgin Mary, and become man, and work many miracles, and preach and teach the faith and the law of Christian men unto his children; and there it pleased him to suffer many reprovings and scorns for us; and he that was king of heaven, of air, of earth, of sea, and of all things that are contained in them, would only be called king of that land, when he said, "Rex sum Judeorum," that is to say, I am king of the Jews; and that land he chose before all other lands, as the best and most worthy land, and the most virtuous land of all the world; for it is the heart and the middle of all the world; by witness of the philosopher, who saith thus "Virtus rerum in medio consist.i.t:"

that is to say, The virtue of things is in the middle; and in that land he would lead his life, and suffer pa.s.sion and death from the Jews for us, to redeem and deliver us from the pains of h.e.l.l and from death without end, which was ordained for us for the sin of our first father Adam, and for our own sins also; for, as for himself, he had deserved no evil: for he thought never evil nor did evil, and he that was king of glory and of joy might best in that place suffer death, because he chose in that land, rather than in any other, to suffer his pa.s.sion and his death: for he that will publish any thing to make it openly known, he will cause it to be cried and proclaimed in the middle place of a town; so that the thing that is proclaimed and p.r.o.nounced may equally reach to all parts: right so, he that was creator of all the world would suffer for us at Jerusalem, that is the middle of the world, to the end and intent that his pa.s.sion and his death, which was published there, might be known equally to all parts of the world. See, now, how dearly he bought man, that he made after his own image, and how dearly he redeemed us for the great love that he had to us, and we never deserved it of him. For more precious goods or greater ransom might he not put for us, than his blessed body, his precious blood, and his holy life, which he enthralled for us; and he offered all for us, that never did sin. Oh!

dear G.o.d! what love had he to us his subjects, when he that never trespa.s.sed would for trespa.s.sers suffer death! Right well ought we to love and wors.h.i.+p, to dread and serve such a Lord, and to wors.h.i.+p and praise such a holy land, that brought forth such fruit, through which every man is saved, unless it be his own fault. Well may that land be called delectable and a fruitful land, that was made moist with the precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ; which is the same land that our Lord promised us in heritage. And in that land he would die, as seised[285] to leave it to us, his children. Wherefore every good Christian man, that is of power, and hath whereof, should labour with all his strength to conquer our right heritage, and drive out all the unbelieving men. For we are called Christian men, after Christ our father. And if we be right children of Christ, we ought to claim the heritage that our father left us, and take it out of heathen men's hands. But now pride, covetousness, and envy have so inflamed the hearts of worldly lords, that they are busier to disinherit their neighbours than to claim or conquer their right heritage aforesaid. And the common people, that would put their bodies and their goods to conquer our heritage, may not do it without the lords. For an a.s.sembly of people without a chieftain, or a chief lord, is as a flock of sheep without a shepherd; the which departeth and disperseth, and know never whither to go. But would G.o.d, that the temporal lords and all worldly lords were at good accord, and with the common people would take this holy voyage over the sea! Then I believe confidently, that, within a little time, our right heritage aforesaid should be recovered and put in the hands of the right heirs of Jesus Christ.

And forasmuch as it is long time past that there was no general pa.s.sage or voyage over the sea, and many men desiring to hear speak of the Holy Land, and have thereof great solace and comfort, I, John Maundeville, knight, albeit I be not worthy, who was born in England, in the town of Saint Albans, pa.s.sed the sea in the year of our Lord Jesus Christ 1322, on the day of St. Michael; and hitherto have been a long time over the sea, and have seen and gone through many divers lands, and many provinces, and kingdoms, and isles, and have pa.s.sed through Tartary, Persia, Ermony, (Armenia) the Little and the Great; through Lybia, Chaldea, and a great part of Ethiopia; through Amazonia, India the Less, and the Greater, a great part; and throughout many other isles that are about India; where dwell many divers folks, and of divers manners and laws, and of divers shapes of men. Of which lands and isles I shall speak more plainly hereafter. And I shall devise you some part of things that are there, when time shall be as it may best come to my mind; and especially for them that will and are in purpose to visit the holy city of Jerusalem, and the holy places that are thereabout. And I shall tell the way that they shall hold thither; for I have oftimes pa.s.sed and ridden the way, with good company of many lords: G.o.d be thanked!

And ye shall understand that I have put this book out of Latin into French, and translated it again out of French into English, that every man of my nation may understand it; and that lords and knights and other n.o.ble and worthy men that know Latin but little, and have been beyond the sea, may know and understand, if I err from defect of memory, and may redress it and amend it. For things pa.s.sed out of long time from a man's mind or from his sight turn soon into forgetting: because a man's mind may not be comprehended or withheld, on account of the frailty of mankind.

CHAPTER I.

TO TEACH YOU THE WAY OUT OF ENGLAND TO CONSTANTINOPLE.

In the name of G.o.d, glorious and Almighty. He that will pa.s.s over the sea to go to the city of Jerusalem may go many ways, both by sea and land, according to the country that he cometh from: many ways come to one end. But you must not expect that I will tell you all the towns, and cities, and castles, that men shall go by; for then should I make too long a tale: but only some countries and the princ.i.p.al places that men shall go through to go the right way. First, if a man come from the west side of the world, as England, Ireland, Wales, Scotland, or Norway, he may, if he will, go through Almaine (Germany) and through the kingdom of Hungary, which borders on the land of Polaine (Poland), and to the land of Pannonia, and so to Silesia. And the king of Hungary is a great and mighty lord, and possesses great lords.h.i.+ps and much land. For he holds the kingdom of Hungary, Sclavonia, and a great part of Comania and Bulgaria, which men call the land of Bougres, and the realm of Russia a great part, whereof he hath made a duchy, that extendeth unto the land of Nyflan, and borders on Prussia. And we go through the land of this lord, through a city that is called Cyp.r.o.n, and by the castle of Neaseborough, and by the evil town, which is situated towards the end of Hungary. And there men pa.s.s the river Danube, which is a very great river, and it goeth into Almaine, under the hills of Lombardy; and it receives forty other rivers, and runs through Hungary and through Greece and through Thrace, and entereth into the sea, towards the east, so roughly and so sharply, that the water of the sea is fresh and keeps its sweetness twenty miles from sh.o.r.e.

And after, men go to Belgrave, and enter the land of Bougres; and there men pa.s.s a bridge of stone, which is upon the river Marrok. And men pa.s.s through the land of Pyncemartz, and come to Greece to the city of Nye, and to the city of Fynepape, and after to the city of Adrianople, and then to Constantinople, which was formerly called Byzantium, where the emperor of Greece usually dwells. And there is the fairest and n.o.blest church in the world, that of St. Sophia. And before the church is the image of the emperor Justinian, covered with gold, and he sits crowned upon a horse; and he formerly held a round apple of gold in his hand, but it is fallen down; and they say there, that it is a token that the emperor hath lost a great part of his lands and lords.h.i.+ps. For he was emperor of Romania and of Greece, of all Asia the Less, and of the land of Syria, of the land of Judea, in which is Jerusalem, and of the land of Egypt, of Persia, and of Arabia; but he hath lost all but Greece; and men would many times restore the apple to the hand of the image, but it will not hold it. This apple betokens the lords.h.i.+p which he had over all the world, which is round; and the other hand he lifts up towards the east, in token to menace the misdoers. This image stands upon a pillar of marble at Constantinople.

CHAPTER II.

OF THE CROSS AND CROWN OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST.